GENEVA -- A 17.07-carat pink diamond sold for a hammer price of 18.3 million Swiss francs ($18.3 million) at a Geneva jewelry auction Wednesday, cruising past both its pre-sale estimate and the winning bid for the "Sky Blue" diamond billed as the event's standout piece. The step-cut pink diamond, set in a ring between triangular white diamonds, had been expected to draw a maximum of 14.76 million francs. Instead, it sold at Sotheby's for more than the 8.01-carat "Sky Blue" diamond, which carried a pre-sale estimate of up to 25 million francs and went for 15 million. The auction house...

Imagery reminiscent of Canada appear on a new collectible that has the added attraction of being the most affordable silver coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. 2017 $3 Spirit of Canada Silver Coin – Obverse and Reverse Entitled the 2017 Spirit of Canada Pure Silver Coin, each is composed from a bit more than one-quarter troy ounce of 99.99% pure silver and is priced at CAD $19.95, which is about US $15. Spirit of Canada Coin Designs and Specifications Canadian artist Steve Hepburn designed the coin’s reverse (tails side). As the second largest country in the world,...

As a collectible, Morgan silver dollars, minted between 1878 and 1921, have no real peer in American numismatics. It is by far the most widely collected and traded numismatic coin in the world. Attend any coin show and you will quickly see that slabbed and raw Morgan dollars are everywhere. Look through the typical mail order catalog or dealer’s advert, and again, you’ll encounter lots and lots of Morgan dollars. Peace dollars are popular too, and have the advantage of being a much shorter set that’s not very hard to complete depending on the desired quality. But they’ve never been...

The 1852 Henry Clay medal struck by the U.S. Mint on a 30-ounce gold planchet fabricated from California gold realized $346,000 in Heritage Auctions’ Sept. 17 sale. The auction was a joint endeavor between Heritage and The Rail Splitter, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication for enthusiasts of Abraham Lincoln and related memorabilia. The Sept. 17 auction realized $2,445,391, which includes the buyer’s fee added to the final closing hammer price of each lot won. For this sale, the buyer’s fee was 25 percent on the first $200,000 on individual lots, and 20 percent of any amount above $200,000 to $2...

Members of the public are being invited to spend a penny in a solid gold toilet at New York City's Guggenheim Museum. Italian artist and sculptor Maurizio Cattelan created the fully functional 18-carat gold lavatory, which he has titled America. The, ahem, interactive exhibit has been installed in one of the Guggenheim's public bathrooms, reports the New Yorker. The Fifth Avenue museum describes the piece as "a bold, irreverent work". The lavatory replaced one of the Guggenheim's porcelain toilets in a one-person, unisex restroom. Visitors who pay museum admission will be able to use it as they wish. The Guggenheim...